For Love of the Dog
by Alirrae
Summary: Shortly after Jou graduated from high school, his life seemed to fall apart. What can a puppy, Seto Kaiba, and Jou's friends do to fix it?
1. Schools Out Forever

**Disclaimer:** You mean, you actually think I own Yugioh? Ha, if I did own Yugioh, I would not be writing this here. Everything I want to put here would be in the show! Meaning, it would not be fit for the eyes of children anymore… I don't even own this story idea…

**Big Thanks: **I owe a big thank you to Lily272. She posted Dogsitter, and when I read it, I was like "You could do so much more with this story!" So she was nice enough to give me permission to take her story idea and do whatever the heck I wanted to with it. Thanks Lily! You have no idea how much this is also helping me get my butt in gear with the other five stories I'm working on…

**Warnings: **Lily, it started out somewhat like the one you wrote, and then my mind went wild… So it has turned out rather different from what you wrote… Just thought I would warn you. I hope you like it though.

As for everyone else, let me think… I have rated this M for future chapters... There will be Yaoi, meaning boy-boy love… There may be a lemon, but I don't know, nor can I vouch for how good it will be, this is my first fic after all… A little angst, but lots of humor… I hope… A dog that is way too smart to be real… Oh, I almost forgot, this story has not been looked over by a Beta Reader, so there may be mistakes. I hope to have someone Beta this story, but I have not found anyone yet. I think that's all the warnings. Enjoy my strangeness everyone!

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**For love of the dog**

Chapter 1: Schools out… forever.

"Hey! Yug! Over here!" Jou called, waving his friend over. "Can you believe it? I mean, I actually managed ta graduate." Jou laughed with a slightly wild grin on his face.

Jounouchi Katsuya knew most people thought him a little slow when it came to the academic side of things, but he also knew that he was far from stupid. He just had a reputation that he needed to protect. So he paid no attention in class, dozing off all the time, and acted like he was struggling with the work. But he had spent many a long night, after his drunken, abusive father had fallen asleep, studying hard to keep up with everyone else. In truth, he liked learning new things. He just didn't want everyone to think he was some geeky pushover. So, he learned in secret, and pretended things were hard and just barely scraped by in his classes.

"I know, Jou! It's so cool. I was worried about you not making for a while, but you managed to scrape through." Yugi Mouto smiled brightly at his best friend.

It was the end of the graduation ceremony, and they were currently searching the crowd for the rest of their group of friends. Jou smiled slightly as he thought of their group. It had grown quite large since things had first started out. And it was all thanks to Yugi.

As they looked around, they spotted Anzu off a little ways, sneering at them. Jou recalled how she had become a part of the group, and how she had fallen out of it. She had been the first friend Yugi had made at school, and for a long time she had been a large part of it. Her friendship speeches had been a little annoying, but that had just been a part of what made her who she was. And then they had found out just what a lying, manipulative bitch she was. Friendship had meant little enough to her when something stood in the way of what she wanted…

Honda and himself, they had just been another set of bullies tormenting him. But, with a major act of courage from Yugi involving another bully and a, at the time mysterious accident involving said bully, they had become the friends and self appointed bodyguards of Yugi. Looking around, he spotted Honda. He seemed to be looking for them as well, his boyfriend, Otogi in tow.

Now that had been an interesting addition to their group of friends. Otogi had actually started out as an enemy. He had put me in a dog suit after he had beaten me in a game, and then tried to force Yugi to quite dueling if he lost as well. Luckily for everyone, Yugi had won, and Otogi became a sort of friend, but it was when he and Honda started dating that he really became a part of our group.

After they had joined Yugi and Jou, they went on looking for the rest of the others. It wasn't hard to spot Yami, and Jou recalled how they had found out about the mysterious other person that sometimes took over Yugi. It was he, Jou recalled, that had taken care of the bully that had hurt Yugi, himself and Honda. It wasn't long before he, unnamed at the time, had become a friend as well. And man did they go through a lot together, the five of them. He had decided to stay with Yugi in the end, rather than moving on, and had been given his own body. Shortly after, he and Yugi had become a couple. He saw them through the crowd, and made his way over as well, pulling Yugi into a tight hug when he reached them.

Off to one side of the building they spotted Ryou Bakura and his boyfriend/former other self, known simply as Bakura, was with him as well. Jou called out to them, and waved them over. Another interesting story was behind them as well. Ryou was one of the sweetest people they knew, and had been reluctant to be friends with them because of strange things that seemed to happen to the people around him. But in the end, he had relented, and they had become friends.

Bakura, however, had been an enemy. He had a grudge against Yami, and had done everything in his power to get rid of him, and the rest of them as well. That included going so far as to be abusive to his host, Ryou. But in the end, he had learned that everything was not Yami's fault, and when he had received a body of his own as well, he had reluctantly joined their circle, and had even become somewhat nicer to Ryou. He had been slightly horrified when he actually started liking some of them, but he had gotten over it in the end, though Jou was the only one other then Ryou who could get away with stealing from the thief. Bakura explained, rather gruffly, that it was because he was like the younger brother he had never had, or wanted for that matter. And then Bakura, like Yami, had found himself falling for his sweet former host, and after fighting tooth and nail against it, he eventually gave up and asked Ryou out. They have been together ever since.

Once Ryou and Bakura had joined them, it was time to hunt up the last two. If only they knew where the two were…

"Hey, any of ya guys seen Marik or Malik?" Jou asked, after failing to spot the two Egyptians.

"Last I had seen, Marik was promising Malik a special surprise for graduating. I thought it best to leave them alone when they started heading for the bathroom." Bakura said, chuckling as everyone else started blushing.

"Sex fiends." Yami muttered in exasperation. "Come along, Bakura. We should break them up before someone catches them, and they get into trouble once again." He said, and pulled Bakura off towards the bathrooms.

Jou smiled slightly, they were all used to this kind of thing by now. As everyone settled down to wait, Jou recalled how Malik and his other self, Marik, had joined them. Marik had been in control of Malik, and had, to put it lightly, been wreaking havoc upon Domino during a tournament Seto Kaiba had been holding. In the end, Yami had cast Marik into the Shadow Realm, the world was saved, and Malik had gone home to Egypt with his brother and sister. And then he had surprised them all not only by returning to Domino, but by having Marik with him. From what they had pieced together, when Yami and Bakura had received their own bodies, Marik had been pulled out of the Shadow Realm and been given one as well. And while no one would call him sane any more than they would Bakura, he was saner than before. Or, at least he was not trying to take over the world anymore. That, however, did not make Malik's sister feel any better about having him around. She had delivered an ultimatum to Malik, he either got rid of Marik, never to have any contact with him again, or they both left. Malik had packed up immediately, and they had gone to the only place he could think of at the time, Domino.

Once there, he had realized that they had no place to stay, and no money to live off of yet. It was a stroke of pure good luck that Ryou and Bakura had run into them in the park. Upon hearing what had happened, they had immediately offered to let the two of them stay with them. Ryou and Bakura had just moved out of the apartment and into a four bedroom house they had gotten a great deal on, although Ryou's father was still paying their living expenses. Also surprising to everyone, Marik, too, had fallen for his hikari, and they had started going out soon after their arrival in Domino. It must be something about all yami's and their hikari.

Finally, Yami and Bakura returned with Marik and Malik in tow. Everyone chuckled slightly when they noticed the two were still trying to get themselves back in order, while Yami and Bakura just glared at them.

"Ok, now that the last of you have finally decided to join us," Yami glared at the two Egyptians here, "We can finally head to the party."

"'bout time, too. I'm starvin'" Jou complained.

"You're always hungry, kid." Bakura pointed out, and everyone laughed.

Jou flushed slightly, laughing along with everyone else as they headed for the limo Otogi had hired to take them all to and from the graduation. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught site of another familiar face. Kaiba Seto was talking to his little brother, Mokuba, and they were also heading out, but on the other side of the room.

Mokuba was more or less a part of the group. He hung out with them sometimes, and everyone loved him. But Kaiba, on the other hand… No one really knew what to make of him. He was not a part of the group, not really a friend either, but he was not an enemy anymore. He held himself apart from them, but had admitted to trusting them more than anyone else in the world, and that was why he let Mokuba hang out with them.

_He does seem to dislike me, though_, Jou thought. _He is always talking down at me, and calling me names, like Mutt. We are always fighting with each other. I wish we didn't_. Jou would have blushed at the thought if he were not still flushed from Bakura's comment. It was the one secret he had kept from everyone else, that he had a crush on Seto Kaiba. He could just imagine the reactions he would get from everyone in the group. It wouldn't be because he was gay; everyone in the group was bi, if not outright gay. No, it would be because he had fallen in love with Kaiba, the person who hated his guts. Jou had no idea how it had happened. Bit by bit, he had come to look forward to their daily fights, it had become more exciting then annoying. Then one day, there it was. It hit him like a two by four straight to the head. He was in love with Kaiba! The fights had become a way to force Kaiba to at least notice him, to acknowledge his existence. And no one else could ever know…

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A.N. Well, here is the first chapter. My first ever! Yay, I'm so proud of myself. Well, this one was just to give you an introduction to all the characters that are going to be important, or at least somewhat important, to the story. The next chapter will be the party, and will really get the story started. I look forward to writing it, and I can only hope that it will turn out well… Also, check out my profile, there is a poll there, and I would like your thoughts on it.

Read and review please. I could use constructive criticism, but any flames will be sent to my Hao minion and his Spirit of Fire to roast my marshmallows.


	2. Author Note

Sorry about the long wait everyone. I just want to let you all know that I have not abandoned this story. I lost internet at home, and just after I got it back my little brother dropped my laptop and broke it. I am sneaking time to work on the next chapter during my computer class at school while I wait for my next check to come in so I can buy a new computer. Please, have patience with me.

Your humble authoress,

Alirrae


	3. Sorry

I'm sorry to tell you all that this story is not going to be finished. My sister, who owned this account, died of cancer a few days ago.


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